Odd Alde issues

Mega

1. I had dealership run ground to battery per Nucamp instructions because of continuous blown fuses. I finally tested on weekend and panel seems good now, re re shore power. No blown fuses. (I did change one of the 3.15 af this time).

2. I drained less than 1/5 of gallon through drain plug. (I had not checked ahead of time how much was in expansion tank). Topped up and turned Alde on. Let run to warm up. Changed speed on circulation pump. After at least half hour, no heat to connectors. Very hot hoses at the boiler but going out from there hoses not heated. Suspect airlock or even pump not working. 

3. Shut off panel on Sunday and last evening, Tuesday, realized the boiler was VERY warm but as above. I  have not talked to dealership yet. I have turned off  battery and unplugged shore power to see if boiler cools down. I will then turn all back on WITHOUT Alde panel and see if the boiler heats up which I  suspect it should not. Once that is figured out I then need to see about circulation. 

Anybody have similar issues? 

Dalehelman

@Mega
Have you set the temp to the highest setting? If not the pump will not come on. When the pump is running you can feel the vibration by placing your hand on it.

Mega

Ambient temperature was about 20 Celsius.  I set tempto 30 C. Put my hand on pump and did not feel anything. 

Dalehelman

@Mega
i assume you have the touch screen. Double check to see that it is set to heat not just hot water. The circulation pump only operates in the heat mode. 

Mega

I have 3010 digital. I had never changed settings before this trouble started. I have showered, washed dishes, heated cabin. Never any issues. It was set on Therm, then I changed pump to continuous on Sunday. Last night I changed it back to Therm. The pump has manual speed dial which I changed from one. Currently on five. All power including shore power and battery are off at the moment. I am not at trailer so will be checking later and switching power back on.

I have in the past set arrow on shower for hot water boost but have not touched it this year.

Sharon_is_SAM

Sounds like an air lock.  Did the level in the expansion tank drop after you started the pump following the refill?  Try raising the tongue and running the pump to see if you can get the air to move.

Mega

I have done all ghat. I suspect the pump is not working. 

I believe I have two issues. 

ScottG

@Mega, after removing and replacing glycol, you should NOT RUN THE HEAT until you are certain the bulk of the air has been purged from the system. Doing so may overheat and damage the unit.

The digital control panel allows the pump to be run without activating the heat. With the pump on high speed, most of the trapped air (which you will almost certainly have if you drained the system and refilled by gravity alone) should eventually burp itself out through the expansion tank. When this happens you will probably need to top off the fluid in the tank.

The document I posted here describes the air bleeding process in greater detail.   

If you increase the pump speed and set it to circulate without heat, there should be an audible whirring from the pump and some very obvious activity in the expansion tank. If this doesn't happen, your circulator pump may very well be not working.

Try this and see if things smooth out. Good luck and report back what happens. 

Mega

I am probably well on the way to damaging the boiler because even though the panel was off (the green light was off), it was heating but not circulating. I did get an overheat error on Tuesday evening after draining and refilling about a gallon. Yesterday I found out I could completely shut down heat by making sure  both electric and propane were off on digital panel. I found this kept alde off even if I turned panel off (green light off)

I tried to find info on running pump without heat but found nothing so assumed heat had to be turned up. I had also looked for more detailed info on manually bleeding air besides just rocking the trailer up and down. I am so frustrated I am about to cry because I may have an expensive repair or replacement. There is NO Alde service anywhere in the province.

I will read through the docs you posted here. I also have a call in to Nucamp to find out if there was an error in the instructions they emailed re: burning fuses which I brought to my dealership service department. 

Thank you or what you have provided so far.

Dalehelman

It can heat the boiler safely without the pump running. That’s how the hot water is produced. Is there fresh water in the Alde hot water tank? I apologize if I have missed something.

ScottG

@Dalehelman, if there is an air pocket inside the boiler core--as may well be the case when the system has been drained and refilled--running the heat could burn out the electric elements (which are designed to be fully submerged in glycol). I can also envision the propane burner damaging the inner core if there is insufficient glycol to absorb the heat.

@Mega, keeping the heat off is only a precaution as you bleed the air. You may very well have had sufficient glycol in the boiler core and therefore would not have damaged anything by running the heat. That doesn't mean there aren't other issues but they are not necessarily your fault.

Mega

I still don't understand how to run circulation pump without heat. Am not at trailer so can't do much about at the moment.

I'm sorry I am so needy. No one around here to talk to in person to figure this all out.

Dalehelman

@Mega
You said you could not feel or hear the pump running. There are two wires that deliver power to the pump. One black probably negative And one red 12 volt power. By taking a test light clipped any ground and taking the point and piercing covering on the red you can test to see if there is power to the pump. If the light comes on there is power. If the pump is not running it’s likely the pump. If the test light doesn’t light I would look for a blown fuse. 

Mega

Ok. I'll do that. In the mean time I know the two 3.15 Amp fuses are good. 

MuttonChops

Mega said:

. . . still don't understand how to run circulation pump without heat.

Believe @ScottG is referring to the Digital Panel Setting page/item that places the pump in continuous operation instead of temperature controlled.  That way the pump runs and you can have the heat source(s) off.  If handy check your manual . . . . below is from 3020 Manual   ** Using Same Digital Panel **

Dalehelman

@Mega
If you have adjusted the speed on the pump. Be sure it is set clearly on one speed setting  and not between two. If it were the pump may not work. I would also check each speed as well. Contacts on one or more speed  may not be making contact.

Mega

Dalehelman said:

@Mega
You said you could not feel or hear the pump running. There are two wires that deliver power to the pump. One black probably negative And one red 12 volt power. By taking a test light clipped any ground and taking the point and piercing covering on the red you can test to see if there is power to the pump. If the light comes on there is power. If the pump is not running it’s likely the pump. If the test light doesn’t light I would look for a blown fuse. 

Well, I  didn't ground properly or something and blew one of the little fuses. Job for daylight and flashlight I guess. 

It is very awkward to see the position of the dial on the pump because of hoses etc. 

ScottG

Perhaps there is some variation, but the little red speed control on my pump acts like a continuous rheostat. I do not need to worry about having the dial exactly on one of the numbers--as I turn the dial clockwise, the pump speed increases smoothly.

Troubleshooting is a systematic process, usually starting with the things that are easiest to check. This process assumes you are familiar with the basic operation of your digital control panel. If you are not, study up first. Nothing confounds troubleshooting more than operator error.  ;-)

• If a fuse is blown (and you said one was) replace it first. The "brain" of the Alde requires 12V power so nothing will work if any of the 12V fuses are blown.
• Determine if the circulator pump works. Increase the pump speed and run the pump without heat. This is described starting at step 8 on page 6 of the document I provided, and also described above by @MuttonChops. You should be able to hear the pump whirring, and see fluid moving in the expansion tank.
• If the pump isn't working, follow @Dalehelman's suggestions for troubleshooting the pump itself.
• If the pump is working, run it it at high speed to bleed any residual air (also described in the document I provided). When the glycol level in the expansion tank stabilizes, turn on a heat source and wait (be patient...) to see if the heat is being distributed normally. 
• If the pump is circulating glycol but nothing is heating up, try an alternative heat source (propane or electric). If one works but the other doesn't, the problem is limited to either the electric elements or the propane burner.
• If neither source provides any heat, the problem likely lies with the control circuitry in the Alde itself.  

Mega

Turns out there was a loose wire or something. Took it in and had pro look at it. Lol, forgot I had it circ. pump on continuous and was curious why bubbling sound coming from bathroom. All is now well.